The Three Gorges project is providing a cleaner source of energy and a "window of opportunity" to deal with potential geological disasters, a Chinese official said Tuesday.

Wang Xiaofeng, director of the office of the Three Gorges Project Committee of the State Council, said at a press conference that the mammoth project had played an irreplaceable role in flood controls on the Yangtze River and in protecting the area's ecological environment.

He said a thermal power plant of the same capacity as the Three Gorges would burn 50 million tons of coal and discharge 100 million tons of carbon dioxides a year.

"The water quality of the mainstream of the Yangtze River is generally stable," he said. "The algae bloom condition has not reached the state's warning level."

Before the Three Gorges construction began, the area had frequent disasters. In the 1980s, more than 40 landslides were recorded. The most serious occurred in 1985 in Xintan, Hubei Province, when it brought ship traffic on the Yangtze to a standstill for 12 days.

"The project has been a good window of opportunity to deal with geological disasters," Wang said. "The government has made a huge amount of investment. When the water level reached 135 meters, the government put in 4 billion yuan (540.7 million U.S. dollars). When it was 156 meters high, another eight billion yuan was invested."

"It's fair to say these investments have paid off. There was no major geological disasters because of the rise in water levels and no major death casualties."

The construction has also posed no threat to the safety of reservoirs in the area, he said.

"We have released 200 million fry to protect bio-diversity in the area," Wang said.

"The water level will finally rise to 175 meters. When new problems arise, we have monitoring experts and will mobilize people for dealing with possible geological disasters," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2007)